UT women’s basketball: Longhorns to hire Aston

Before spending five seasons as head coach at UNT and Charlotte, Karen Aston worked from 1998-2006 at UT. (John D. Simmons/Charlotte Observer)

AUSTIN — To bring Texas back to the top level of women’s basketball, the Longhorns are turning to a coach who helped them get there before.

North Texas coach Karen Aston, who was an assistant on the last UT team to make the Final Four, will be named as the replacement for Gail Goestenkors, who resigned as head coach March 20.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said at the women’s Final Four in Denver on Saturday that Aston — a former Mulkey assistant — told her in a text message she was taking the UT job. UT’s board of regents have called a special meeting to authorize the hiring of a new coach.

Last week, The Associated Press reported Aston was the only candidate to interview for the job.

Before spending five seasons as head coach at UNT and Charlotte, Aston worked from 1998-2006 at UT, where she helped sign seven high-school All-Americans. The Longhorns made the 2003 Final Four and reached the Sweet 16 two other times during that stretch.

In five seasons under Goestenkors, UT won just a single NCAA Tournament game, and was ousted in the first round four years in a row.